The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index for
house purchases rose 0.3% in February following an unrevised 0.6% January
increase. The 4.9% y/y increase was the weakest since early-2015, down from a
7.6% high early in 2018.

Monthly increases in prices were strongest in the East South
Central and New England regions of the country, although y/y increases were
either moderately below or stable with last year.

Home price inflation decelerated sharply in the East North
Central, West North Central, West South Central and Pacific regions of the country.

Declines in house prices were logged in February in both the
Middle Atlantic and Mountain regions. Twelve-month price increases slowed
dramatically after strengthening during all of last year.

The FHFA house price index is a weighted purchase-only index
that measures average price changes in repeat sales of the same property. The
indexes are based on transactions involving conforming, conventional mortgages
purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Only mortgage
transactions on single-family properties are included. The FHFA data are
available in Haver's USECON database.

FHFA U.S. House Price Index,
Purchase Only (SA %)

Feb

Jan

Dec

Feb Y/Y

2018

2017

2016

Total

0.3

0.6

0.3

4.9

6.7

6.6

6.0

New England

1.1

-0.6

0.9

4.3

5.5

5.8

4.1

Middle Atlantic

-1.2

0.8

0.5

3.8

5.5

4.9

3.6

East North Central

0.6

1.1

0.5

5.7

6.5

6.0

5.3

West North Central

0.2

0.5

0.5

4.9

6.2

5.4

5.6

South Atlantic

0.4

0.6

0.3

5.5

7.2

6.8

6.9

East South Central

1.4

0.1

-0.2

6.4

6.3

5.8

5.0

West South Central

0.4

0.8

-0.2

3.5

5.4

6.5

5.7

Mountain

-0.5

1.0

0.4

6.5

9.3

8.6

7.8

Pacific

0.2

0.3

0.5

3.7

7.7

8.6

8.0

New England: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Middle Atlantic: New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
East North Central: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
West North Central: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska,
Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.
South Atlantic: Delaware, Maryland, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
East South Central: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.
West South Central: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.
Mountain: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and
New Mexico.
Pacific: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington.